Mapping applications accessible by electronic devices often allow users to select and display POIs on a digital map. For example, a user of a smart phone, connected to a mapping service accessible over the internet, can enter a search query such as “Pete's Coffee, San Francisco” or “Best Coffee, Seattle”. The mapping service delivers to the user map tiles (e.g. tiles of a map, satellite photo, etc.) which are displayed as a contiguous map on the electronic device. The mapping service then displays icons (i.e. graphical representations) of business and places (collectively POIs) super-imposed on the digital map at the corresponding geographic locations. The user can then click on a POI icon and receive more information on the POI, navigate to a website associated with the POI, etc.
At present, a user can delimit the POIs displayed by manipulating the search query. For example, the user can modify the parameters of a search query, changing a name of a city or introducing more criteria into the search, resulting in a smaller subset of POIs displayed. The user can also manipulate the map: zoom or pan, to alter the POIs displayed.
What is lacking at present, and in any prior art, is any way for a user to graphically select a region of a map, for example by outlining an arbitrary region on a touch-screen in a “free-hand” fashion, and, displaying only those POIs that are within the outlined region.